Showband Pedigrees

Many internationally famous musicians started their careers
in showbands. On this page, we'd like to pay tribute to them and let the world
know that "showbands" isn't a four letter word! If you know of any additional
ex-showbanders,
please drop us a line!

Henry McCullough
Born in 1946 and growing up in the seaside resort of Portstewart, Henry's first musical
venture was as guitarist with Irish showband, The Skyrockets and the
years to follow found him doing the dance hall circuit with similar
outfits, including the popular
Gene and the Gents. Henry went on to play with Joe Cocker's Grease
band, Paul McCartney's Wings, Roy Harper, Marianne Faithful, Ronnie
Lane, Donovan, Frankie Miller, Eric Burdon, Viola Wills and Spooky Tooth
as well as his own groups. Today he once again lives in his native
Portstewart. Sadly he suffered a massive heart attack in 2012 and could no
longer play or speak. He sadly passed away on 14th June, 2016.

Rory GallagherBorn in 1948 in
Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal, but raised in Cork, Rory began at an early
age when he saw Elvis Presley on TV and became inspired to get his first
guitar. In his early teens, Rory began playing with the Fontana Showband
throughout Ireland, whose repertoire included all the popular hits of
the day. In 1965, the Fontana was renamed
The Impact Showband and headed
to Hamburg. Once there, the band split and Rory and two members formed
Taste. Although Taste wouldn't last long, the band had a major impact on
rock music. After Taste split Rory went solo and the rest is history. He
died in 1995. More at
http://www.rorygallagher.com/index.htm.

Van MorrisonGeorge Ivan Morrison was born in Belfast, on August
31, 1945. At 15, he quit school and lent his talent to a
succession of bands. Like many other successful local musicians who
started out during the showband era, various stints with such household
names as The Monarchs, the Manhattan Showband and Brian Rossi's Band
helped Van cultivate and develop his craft. In the mid 60's he formed
Them. Boasting a fiery, gritty sound heavily
influenced by Morrison heroes, Them's version of "Baby Please Don't Go,"
cracked the U.K. Top Ten in early 1965. Morrison left Them following a
1966 tour of the U.S., quitting the music business and returning to
Belfast. However, his solo career is legendary. More at
http://www.harbour.sfu.ca/~hayward/van/van.html

Eric BellEric was born in Belfast on the
3rd of September, 1947. His first band was The Atlantics Showband, but
his big break came with the Deltones, who appeared as a supporting act
and he also played with The Dreams showband. After a short with Van
Morrison (shortly after Van left Them)Eric turned professional
as guitarist with the Bluebeats Showband, from Glasgow. When Bell
returned to Northern Ireland, he replaced Gary Moore in Shades Of Blue,
but soon joined forces with former Them organist Eric Wrixen and finally
joined Thin Lizzy in 1970. In 1973, Eric left Lizzy and since then has
worked with many other artists and has, for the last 14 years been
performing with his band, The Eric Bell Band along with Andy Golden on
drums and Tony Wootton on Bass. More at
http://www.ericbellband.com.

Colm Wilkinson
Colm came from a musical Dublin family, so it was no surprise when he
started playing with bands around the city in the early sixties. He
played with the Chris Lambe Showband, The Action, The Jim Doherty
Quartet, The Four Aces, and in 1968 joined The Witnesses, a band that
frequently toured abroad. In 1972, he was offered his first chance to
break onto the musical stage as Judas in "Jesus Christ Superstar." In
1978. he won the Irish Song Contest with Born To Sing and toured the
circuit again. In 1980, he moved to London and never looked back,
gaining international fame as the star in The Phantom of the Opera, and
Les Miserables. Today he lives in Canada. More at
www.colmwilkinson.com.

Tony O'Malley
At fifteen, Tony joined an Irish showband, the Skyliners from
Enniskillen. The Skyliners worked the dancehalls up and down the country
until Tony was spotted by the manager of a soul band, the Blueshealers,
that he then joined. The band became Ronnie Jones and the Q Set and
played a long residency at the Bag OíNails club in Soho, where such
luminaries as Jimi Hendrix would jam with the band. In 1972, Tony formed
Kokomo, a ten-piece supergroup,
featuring Neil Hubbard and Alan Spenner from Joe Cockerís Grease Band
and Jody Linscott who has played with everybody from Elton John to Tom
Jones, and is now currently working with Dido. In 1977, Tony left Kokomo
and joined 10cc, but in 1978 left to pursue a solo career. Today he
lives in London and plays with his own jazz group. More at
www.tonyomalley.com.